Jones Hall Gallery to Feature New York-Based Artist Suzanne Broughel February 24-March 25

For release: February 12, 2011
For press information, contact Simone Notter Wilson (901) 678-4164

Suzanne Broughel a New York based artist working in sculpture, installation, and photography will show her work in "Lied, Tied & Dyed" at the U of M's Jones Hall Gallery (located in Jones Hall, room 109), February 24 through March 25. An opening reception will be held on February 24 from 5-7 p.m. Broughel and Michael Paul Britto will give an artist talk on February 23 at 6 p.m. Location TBA.

Broughel's work addresses race and cultural identity from the perspective of a white American female raised in a racially charged environment. Using everyday household objects as art materials, she sifts through autobiography, history, and popular culture to address white skin privilege and question the construct of whiteness. Her work has been exhibited in New York City at P.S. 1/MOMA, Rush Arts Gallery, Longwood Art Gallery, JCAL, and Onishi Gallery, among others. She participated in the Emerge 8 Exhibition at Aljira Center for Contemporary Art and was a 2008 participant at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She is currently a fellow at AIR Gallery in DUMBO, Brooklyn.

About the motivation for her work, Broughel notes: "Post-racial has become a buzzword, yet serious inequalities persist. The social movements of the 1960s and '70s had their successes and shortcomings, and global capitalism has found ways to cynically co-opt diversity. I grew up in a racially charged environment, but as an artist, it was difficult for me to enter the dialogue on race.  I learned that for me the personal, autobiographical voice is strongest. My art materials became everyday household objects.  adhesive bandages, soap, bed sheets, shoelaces, skin bronzers, things that we put on our skin, sleep on, and wear. So, even though they are commodities, they enter a realm of intimacy as we bring them into our homes and use them on our bodies. My focus is on addressing white skin privilege and economic racism, and the obtaining of materials is often an important part of my work. I've walked a forty acre parcel of land around Manhattan's African Burial Ground to inventory skin shades of adhesive bandages and searched for black-owned businesses in Newark, New Jersey from which to buy soap. Experiences such as these impact me and help inform my work."